City Council - Regular Meeting

I call to order the Thomasville City Council meeting for Monday, May 19th, 2025. Welcome all of you here in the council chambers this evening. We're pleased to have you with us. Uh two of our members are absent at the at the moment. One that has an excused absence for the meeting is Lisa Shell and Council Member Payton Williams. Uh she should be along a little bit later. she had a a conflict that she had to take care of. We also welcome tonight those representing our city schools. The only one I see is uh Nancy, Miss Nancy Stton from our school board. So, welcome to you tonight. Also, welcome any member of the press that might be present. uh any uh one joining us tonight on our website or over social media. Mr. City Manager, do we have any additions or deletions to our agenda this evening? Good afternoon, Mayor and Council. Uh I actually have two additions to tonight's meeting. I have a proclamation that I would like to add as item 4D. proclamation for amateur radio operators week June 22nd through the 28th 2025. And then I'd also like it to add a close session under item eight and to reumber item eight to number nine and number nine to number 10. And that close session is for personnel. Okay, you've heard this. Uh, what's the pleasure of council? Mr. Mayor, I'll make a motion to approve the agenda as amended by our city manager. Is there any discussion?

Okay, you may enter your vote. All right. What I do here? Tap my screen. There you go. Okay. We have five in the affirmative. So, the agenda has been approved. We're now down to our public forum and we have two people signed up tonight. Uh you will be allowed to speak uh on the subject of your choice for two minutes. So the first one tonight uh is Terry Beard and if you would please uh come forward to the stand and uh if you would state your name and your subject for the clerk please. My name is Terry Beard and I am here to talk about the noise ordinance. Good evening. My name is Terry Beard and I live on Cable Street. I'm 68 years old and recovering from cancer. I'm still receiving treatments. So, it's my right to have peace in my own home. I would like to address the noise ordinance. There's often very large parties outside in yards with amplified music or live bands. The sound is very audible in my home. It rumbles through the house. You cannot drown it out with TV or anything else, which we shouldn't have to. That's comparable to listening to TV and radio in the same room. We have even replaced all the windows and doors in our home to fight this. The most recent was May 10th. It was four houses from mine. The ordinance states that if the noise is loud, unnecessary, or disturbing the peace, it

is in violation. It also states that the noise should not be heard over 50 feet from the origin where the noise is. The distance from my property line to their property line is approximately 265 ft. That far exceeds the limit. I was told that I could hear the party in my home because we're so close. I was also told that the partygoers were asked to lower the noise as a goodwill measure. They decided not to and it went on for hours. There are venues that should be used when there are large parties so as not to disturb, disrupt the peace for the whole neighborhood. We live in a neighborhood, not a nightclub, a residential neighborhood. I would like for someone to clarify the ordinance so I can understand where my right to peace on my own property lies. Thank you. Thank you, ma'am. The next one to sign up I think is Christina Blackman. If you would come forward and please state your name. I may not have My name is Christina Blackman. The lady who just spoke is my sister. And I also would like to talk about the noise ordinance and the big parties that are held in our neighborhoods. You won't believe that

there are people who have live bands who come to perform in neighborhood yards. And I realize that the noise ordinance is 50 feet from the street, but our houses are not even 25 feet apart. And it's really not pleasant or it can even be frightening to make a complaint against a neighbor who has their whole family, their all their friends and they celebrate every single occasion that they can there at their house clogging up the whole street. And when they when the police come to address the matter, they might turn it down. Maybe and maybe they can or maybe they can't whether or not they're using a band or they're using amplified music or if they're using a DJ. Perhaps they can't do that. But they might make some adjustment until the police go away and then it's right back to where it is. The windows have been shaken in my home. I have considered going to a hotel and then wondered if I could ask the city to reimburse me for going to that hotel because it wasn't enforced because this noise ordinance wasn't enforced. So, I too am making a plea that if a complaint is made about a big party that is more like a nightclub than a yard, we're in neighborhood yards. that that be enforced and that everybody be respected in our neighborhoods. That's all I have to say. Thank you very much. We're now down to recognition and

presentations. First item A is proclamation national public works week May 18th through 24th. with it. Good sir. Proclamation for National Public Works Week. Whereas public works focuses on infrastructure systems, facilities, and services that are vital importance to the health, safety, and comfort of this community. And whereas these services could not be provided without the dedicated efforts of our public work professionals who are responsible for streets, public buildings and grounds, solid waste collection, preparation for cleanup after events, holiday direct decorations, lighting downtown, annual leaf pickup, maintaining fleet, hosting road signs and blocking roads is needed for public safety and in police and fire emergencies and other such essential services that affect the daily lives of Thomasville residents, businesses and visitors. Whereas it is in the public's best interest for the citizens, civic leaders, and children to gain knowledge and understanding of the importance of public works and public works programs of the city of Thomasville. And whereas 2025 marks the 65th annual National Public Works Week sponsored by the American Public Works Association. This year's theme of people, purpose, and presence highlights how public works makes communities safer, more vibrant, and a better place to live. Whether providing waste pickup or making roads and sidewalks passable after a winter weather event, public works is always there when people need them. Therefore, Raleigh York Jr., the mayor of city of Thomasville, North Carolina, does hereby proclaim the week of May 18th through 24th, 2025 as National Public Works Weeks week and extend sincere appreciation and gratitude to our public work professionals for the vital contributions they perform in protecting our community's health, safety, and quality of life, as well as their exemplary dedication to our community. signed by the married Riley York and

attested by Wendy Martin. And I would like to thank you for the work that your party that your people do because it's it's well done and and you always take care of us. Would you like to say something? Uh mayor, council, thank you for this recognition. U what we do sometimes is u it's one of the toughest jobs we feel like in the city, but we do thank you for all your support. Thank you. Our next proclamation is National Gun Violence Awareness Day. And I think Linda here. Yes. To receive this. Yes. U originally this uh event was scheduled for June 7th and I got your email. Yes. So it will be June the 21st and th this has gone out at with the 7th on it, but we'll we'll fix you a new one. Okay. And I will present it again at the event. I think on that Saturday with the corrected date. All right. All right. Proclamation designating designating June 21st, 2025 as National Gun Violence Awareness Day. Whereas gun violence aware gun Whereas gun violence exists an enormous toll on Americans with thousands of gun homicides every year. and support for the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding citizens goes hand in hand with keeping guns away from people with dangerous

histories. And whereas to help honor the thousands of Americans who live whose lives are cut short and the countless survivors injured by by shootings every day, June 21st is designated as National Gun Violence Awareness Day. And whereas June 21st, 2025 will be the 11th National Gun Violence Awareness Day. Anyone can join this campaign by pledging to wear orange on June 21st to help raise awareness about gun violence and to honor the lives of gun violence victims and survivors. And whereas we renew our commitment to reduce gun violence and pledge to do all we can to keep firearms out of the wrong hands and encourage responsible gun ownership to help keep our children safe. Now therefore, be it resolved I, Raleigh York Jr., mayor, hereby proclaims June 21st, 2025 to be National Gun Violence Awareness Day in Thomasville. And I encourage all citizens to support the community efforts to prevent the horrific effect of of gun violence, to honor and value human lives, and to join events throughout where orange weekend June 6 through the 8th. Proclaim this 20th day of May, 2024, San Riley, York, Junior Mayor. and uh I'll give you a chance to make some remarks and I'll just keep this one and I'll have yours ready for the 21st and give it to you at that time. I appreciate it. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. I am Linda Melton and I live here in the city of Thomasville and um me and my family started this joined in with this campaign back in about five years ago. I lost my son on May 28th of 2020. And so as a positive taken out of

losing him than we have stayed with this for the last five years just trying to bring awareness to our community that this is real. It's a real knock that comes to your door. It pierce your heart and it's a ongoing process. I often tell people it's an emotional roller coaster. So I just ask all of you that have the time out on the 21st of June to come out to the dope to dope park and support. It's one to six. We have fun out there to try to help people that have lost their loved ones. And then there's the other side that lost their loved ones, you know. Um because there's two side to this. You and so we just ask you to come out and support and you know join in with our community that we can actually have a day out and it's a safe day. You know, we appreciate the police department. they've been there with us, you know, and so many others and the support of the city council and the mayor. So, we just ask you all to come out and support if you can. Thanks. Thank [Applause] you. Our next proclamation, the 250th birthday of the United States Army, June 14th. Council member Neil Grimes. I would ask, excuse me, General Bud Mark to join me if you would please. And before I share the proclamation, I'd like to make a couple comments.

Monday the 26th will be the 35th annual North Carolina Memorial Day parade and ceremony here in Thomasville. Hopefully everybody's aware of that. You've been before, you enjoy it, you like to come back. Uh it's a a lot of folks put a lot of work in it, but it's for the whole states, for the whole world. It's probably the largest uh parade, Memorial Day parade around. Uh we honor uh gold star families, which is a wonderful thing. Uh but this is the 250th birthday of the United States Army. That's a big achievement from 1775 to 2025. This is a big This is an important year. Oh, Memorial Day. There's pamphlets over there. It starts Saturday at the Vietnam Wall uh on Interstate 85. There's there's a there's a ceremony down there at 10:00, but if you get the brochure before you leave, uh there's there's a list of all of the the activities in there. We'd love to have you come. Everything's free. We have a we have the 208th Army Band a free concert at Finch Auditorium on Sunday night. Free. Please come on out. Um, 250 years ago, on April 19th of this year, last month, the American Revolution started 250 years ago. On June the 14th, as you'll hear in a minute, the the United States Army was formed 250 years ago. On October the 13th, 250 years ago, 1775, the United States Navy was created. On November the

10th, 7, 1775, 250 years ago, the United States Marine Corps was formed. Lot of history in these 250 years. So please come to memorial proclamation recognizing the 250th birthday of the United States Army. Whereas on June 14, 1775, the Second Continental Congress representing the citizens of 13 American colonies authorized the establishment of the Continental Army. And whereas the collective expression of the pursuit of personal freedom that caused the authorization and organization of the United States Army led to the adoption of the Declaration of Independence and the cotification of the new nation's basic principles and values in the Constitution. And whereas for the past 250 years, the United States Army's central mission has been to fight and win the nation's wars. And whereas the motto of this will defend is the creed by which the American soldier lives and serves. And whereas no matter what the cause, location, or magnitude of future conflicts, the nation can rely on the United States Army to provide well-trained, well-led and highly motivated soldiers to carry out the missions entrusted to them. And whereas the components of the United States Army to include the Army National Guard, the United States Army Reserves and the Regular Army have contributed immensely to health and natural disaster response. And whereas members of the city of Thomasville have proudly served and made the ultimate sacrifice, Memorial Day,

for our nation's freedom while serving in the United States Army and other branches of our nation's military. Now therefore, Raleigh Ort Jr., Mayor of the city of Thomasville, North Carolina does hereby proclaim June the 14th, 2025 to be the United States Army's 250th birthday, expressing appreciation on behalf of the people of Thomasville, to the United States Army and to the dedicated soldiers who have served in it for over 250 years as it it has been in existence. This the 19th day of May, 2025, signed Raleigh York Jr. June the 14th is also flag tape flag day every year. So, uh, you see your flags flying, fly them proudly. General Martin is the former deputy agitant general of the North Carolina Army National Guard, but currently so serves as the civilian aid to the Secretary of the Army. It's an honor to have you here, sir. Thank you. Thank you. Can I get someone to take a picture? Right. There's the picture. You take a picture, please. Y'all pick one of these up and you go out. And thank you to anybody out there that's a veteran. And I think of a general standing up here, he always has to say something, right? And you can't ever First thing I want to do is tell you that I I live in North Davidson County. lived there for 30 foot some years and I uh I have been a member of the Memorial Day parade for ever since almost its inception. Not exactly because until I got a call from General Leonard one time when I was in the in the National Guard, but but I've been a part of that and I just I I thank

Thomasville. It's a great patriotic community and your mayor and all of them are involved and and I just love the fact of what Thomasville does. uh every Memorial Day to recognize those who gave the the ultimate sacrifice and the families because they all suffer, not just as you talked about the gun thing. It's not just the person who may have fired the gun, but that that family as well as the one that's the victim. So, so I think and then and I will also uh make another announcement. Uh at the veterans breakfast, if you're a veteran at Richard Children's Racing on June 11th, we're going to have a birthday celebration, Army birthday celebration. We'll have sheetcakes with the 20 250th Army birthday. And we will have a special guest. And right now, the best I can say, it will be a cabinet member uh from our president, President Trump. So, we will have a cabinet member there to speak. We'll have some young ladies and men who will be sworn in for the first time to join our great army. So, if you're a veteran or even not, come out, enjoy some cake, and and participate with all our veterans. Thank you very much. Thank you, Mayor. Thank you, Before before before we proceed, if you have served in the United States Army, uh I know that Neil welcomed you, but please stand if any any branch of service. Well, the Army first. Okay. Yeah. Army. That's us now. Now, if you've served in any service, please stand and join the army. Oh, no.

I salute all of you. Yes. Thank you. Our next uh proclamation is amateur uh rail amateur radio operators week and council member Scott Scott Styrus will present there. Start over. Tongue tied. I sense that there might be several of us. There's a few of us. That's great. Glad to have you. Come on. Well, this proclamation is for amateur radio operators week June 22nd to June 28th, 2025. Whereas for o, excuse me, for over a century, amateur or ham operators, radio operators have stood ready to serve during times of emergency, providing communications to protect life and property through the use of their skills and advanced communications technologies. And whereas the city of Thomasville of North Carolina recognizes and appreciates the diligence of these hams who also serve as weather spotters in the skyworn program of the National Weather Service. And whereas amateur radio operators have provided countless hours of community services both at emergencies and to other local organizations throughout the decade wholly uncompensated. And whereas the ARRL amateur radio field day exercise will be held on June 28th 29th 2025. This event will feature a 24-hour emergency preparedness exercise and demonstration of the radio amateur skills and readiness to provide

self-supporting communications without further infrastructure being required. Therefore, Raleigh York Jr., mayor of the city of Thomas, North Carolina, does hereby proclaim June 22nd through 28th, 2025 as amateur radio operators week in Thomasville, North Carolina. Honoring these hams who stand ready to serve whenever their skills may be necessary. In witness whereof, the mayor has set his hand and affix the seal of the city of Thomasville, North Carolina. This 19th day of May, 2025, signed Raleigh or Junior mayor. Thank you very much. You like to say something? We'd like to thank Mayor York and the entire council for recognizing and supporting the amateur radio community. We applaud your understanding in the priority you have given to the importance of emergency preparedness. We have partnered with the Thomasville Rescue Squad in order to be equ to be equipped as an available asset to the community in case of an unfortunate event that negatively affects standard communications avenues such as happened in western North Carolina last year. We appreciate the civil service that you all provide and share your selfless values. Thank you again for this proclamation. Thank you. proper proclamation. She She wants us to get a quick picture. Y'all come on over here. Yeah. Email them to us. Okay. Spread out over here. Get Get everybody. You a little bit too wide. There you go. Okay. Like we like each other. We don't have any of those. Okay. Thank you. Thank you very much. I appreciate it.

[Music] Thank you, Mr. Mayor. So, we have three items on our consent agenda for tonight. First item is consideration of the minutes from the briefing meeting dated April 14th, 2025. Item B is consideration of minutes of the council meeting dated April 21st, 2025. And item C is consideration of budget amendment 2000 or 2025 P1-01. Uh, this amendment appropriates $15,000 of grant funding in the administration department um for a National League of Cities grant, Southern Cities Economic Inclusion Initiative Program to establish a business incubator to support minority, women, and veteranowned businesses in the community. Also, $71,000 of interest revenue is appropriated for the cost of converting street lights to LED bulbs. And that's your consent agenda as presented for this evening. Okay. Thank you very much. What's the pleasure of council? Mr. Mayor, I make a motion that we approve the consent agenda for tonight's meeting. Is there a second? Second. Any discussion? You may register your vote. Okay, we have a 6 vote in the affirmative. So, that has been approved. We're now down to our regular agenda. Item item A is consideration of acceptance of an AED donation from Davidson County EMS grant. Want to recognize our chief of emergency management, Sam Oinsky. Good evening all. I do have a couple I'd like to bring before you tonight. Lisa with University Miss real fast of the race cars trial program.

Great. So thank you everybody. I'm Lisa Monk as you said from Duke and I'm working closely with Davidson EMS, fire, law enforcement, 911, hospitals in the community. There are 350,000 cardiac arrests per year and unfortunately less than 10% of those survive. Many of you may be familiar with Demar Hamlin about two years ago on national TV, took a hard hit to the chest and had a cardiac arrest. So, we got to see what happens when it's recognized, when CPR is started immediately, and when they get the shock box or the AED out and apply it. But unfortunately, it doesn't happen. And in your county, which is um you know, you have volunteer as part fire as part of your work, um when they call out a cardiac arrest, usually fire is the quickest to get there. Um but unfortunately, many times they don't have the equipment that they need and they're coming from home. So by placing an AED outside, either the public could respond and or fire could swing by and potentially pick that up. So the work that you all are doing is saving lives. And the reality is we've got to do something. It's a statistic that hasn't changed in 40 years. So thank you all for having me and I applaud the work that Davidson County is doing to improve survival for your community members. Um so the the ad and the box that you see before you um we received as part of our work on the research trial with Duke um we got an aotment of free AEDs and free boxes. So we've done a lot of work in locating where all the AEDs in our county are and also where all cardiac arrests happen. So, when you take those two maps and and stack them on top of each other, you see where there's a hot

spot where we have cardiac arrest, but we don't have an AED in a a reasonable vicinity. Um, and some of the places where cardiac arrest happen where there are large groups of people. So, um, this box, um, we had talked with, um, Sam and Chief Myers at the fire department and determined that on Main Street, somewhere in the vicinity of um, the city hall or, you know, the gazebo, somewhere right there would be a good area to have one because it's it's readily available to a kind of several businesses there. It's the area for um your everybody's day, that kind of thing. So, we've um you know, want to donate this ad and this box to the city for placement in that area so that if there is a cardiac arrest, it's available for for the public. Thank you. Any work? Yes, sir. I just want to thank you for allowing your folks, police, police and fire both to to grouping in with this cooperation with us. Um, we have a excellent working relationship with Thomasville City's folks and I want to applaud you for it like I said because that that that means a lot to us and helps us do our job. Thank you. I know in the committee meetings I didn't have this box totally ready. Uh, one additional thing that we did put in this box is the cellular device that anytimes this box is opened, it will dial 911, letting them know that somebody's opened the box. Um, so that's also an added benefit. When they call 911, they'll be able to do a map layer and say that you can go 30 feet out of

your door and go grab this AED. But yeah, any questions? Anything? All right. Thank y'all so much. Absolutely. Our next item, item B, presentation of manager such message and call public hearing on Monday, June 2 p.m. at 20. Thank you, Mayor. is my my pleasure to formally present the city of Thomas's recommended fiscal year 25.6 budget for your review and consideration. The document serves as a resource allocation plan that meets the requirements of section 159-11 of the North Carolina statutes of the imbalance and prepared the principles and rules of local government budget fiscal patrol act and the city's fiscal policy currently in effect budget meets the vision of city council building a better Thomasville together. The budget presented is balanced in the amount of 58,778,599. Uh the bulk of that is in the general fund and in the water sewer enterprise fund. The general fund is budgeted at $39,436,598. And the water sewer enterprise fund is balanced at 17,16 one thou $166,353. The proposed tax rate is 62 cents per $100 of assessed valuation which is the same as previous year and

the budget has been filed with the city clerk for public viewing. In addition, the the budget is available on the city's website at thomasville-nc.gov. The budget process in begins in September of each year with the staff developing proposed capital purchases of equipment and facility improvements. These are then integrated into a city-wide community improvement plan that is reviewed and approved by city council. In January, the city council held a two-day work strategic planning meeting to establish priorities and discuss issues facing the community. And in this process, we focused on how do we serve the community through the departments which is customer focused. How do we run the operations efficiently and effectively which is our internal business processes? How do we manage our resources to ensure that our infrastructure is being maintained while preserving and enhancing our financial position? and how do we develop our personnel through informal and formal training opportunities? The proposed budget recommends an average water sewer utility rate increase of 4.3% based on the 2022 rate study recommendations that we are still operating under. Our personnel are the lifeblood of the city and that is where the bulk of our funds uh go because we provide services to the community and that takes people to do that. Our workforce is is well trained and qualified in developing and maintaining the high quality of life for the citizens. City Council has been very focused on the city uh employees over the past couple of years and we appreciate that effort because uh without a strong employee base, it is difficult to provide those services to the community. We are recommending a a cost of living adjustment of 3% uh for all employees effective July 1st,

2025. Employer provided employee health insurance premiums are increasing 4.1%. Uh however, we were working with our health care provider. We are able to offer additional uh reductions in our dependent care coverage for families and children um that are paid for by the employee. The contribution to the local government employees retirement system uh which is mandated through the retirement system by the state is increasing to 14.4% 4% for the general and firefighter class employees and 16.04% for law enforcement. This expense is based on individual salaries for each full-time employee. And a most significant change uh from previous years and was uh discussed uh through with city council since January was the addition of 15 new full-time positions that are proposed. 12 of these are in the general fund and three are in the utility fund. The budget proposes 1,355,841 of uh capital improvements. This ranges everything from server equipment to new vehicles uh and an activity bus for parks and recreation is included in there along with upgrades to various facilities and the utility fund. Uh there is a proposed capital improvements of1,188,359 and this is also includes water treatment uh plant upgrades such as the basin repair and service pumps. Uh also includes vehicles and engineering fees for uh various water projects and sewer projects underway.

I mentioned there are additional staff recommendations that are in the budget. These are proposed to be partial year uh additions to our staff. Uh it includes a fire inspector level three, three firefighters, one for each shift, a civilian traffic crash investigator in the police department. a network administrator in the MIS department, an office support two position in the public works department, a permitting assistant in the planning and community development department, a parks and recreation worker uh class one, a parks and recreation program coordinator and a golf course assistant superintendent and a golf course assistant professional. In the utility fund, it includes a utility locator uh excuse me, not uh a inventory specialist in that area and also two additional laborers uh within the water and in the maintenance and construction. The city council has also recommended the funding of of outside agencies. We are uh the budget proposes that the PACE group receive $34,000 in total funds. They are our downtown economic development uh group. The city beautifification commission received $50,000 for the work that they do in maintaining all of the city properties uh with flowers that everyone loves every year and other services. Uh the Martin Luther King Jr. Peace Conference received $1,500 and the Thomasville Farmers Market received $15,000. The city charges a Thomasville City School Supplemental School Tax of

$19.5, which generates $1.9 million. This is a slight increase uh from previous years. These funds are transferred to the Thomasville City Schools to support operations of the school system. In conclusion, this uh uh fiscal year budget for all city personnel, operations, equipment, and capital improvements, and debt service is 58,778,599. This is a 6.6% increase over previous year's budget. uh mostly due to those additions of of staff. A summary of the departments uh it will be included in the in the documents that when they get online uh that give more information about the expenditures within the the budget. Thomasville is blessed with a strong and loyal workforce that truly wants to provide its citizens with quality services. The budget, if fully implemented, provides the resources necessary for them to maintain and even expand service levels of our citizens as they come to expect. I look forward to working with council and staff as we serve the community and work toward meeting the vision of building a better Thomasville together. While this budget proposal is the city managers and quite honestly the finance officers, uh it is neither final nor necessarily a reflection of what will be approved by city council. Once adopted, the budget may be amended by city council at any regular or special meeting. The mayor and council will review the recommended budget and receive comments at a public hearing scheduled for Monday, June 2nd, 2025 at 6 pm here at the city council chambers. I'd like to thank the city council, department managers, and staff for their hard work and support while developing this budget. I especially want to thank Thomas Avant, finance director, and Eric Kiz, assistant finance director, for the many hours of work that they have undertaken to ensure the accuracy and completeness of this budget document. And if you have any

questions, please contact me. Thank you. Thank you very much. Uh what's the pleasure of council with regard to accepting the manager's budget message and call for public hearing on Monday, June 2nd at 6 p 6 pm here in this building. Mr. Mayor, I'd like to make a motion uh to accept the b the manager's budget message and call for public hearing on Monday, June 2nd at 6 pm 20 Stadium Drive, Thomasville. Second. Okay, motion second. Is there any discussion? Um, I just want to make one quick clarifying point. The the amount allocated to the school is bigger, but the rate is the same. Okay, cool. I just want to put that out there. Thank you guys. I know that's a tremendous amount of work. So, any other discussion or questions or anything? Okay, you may record your vote. So, this has been approved 6 unanimously. Mr. Mayor, yes. Point of order. Um, item 6A said consideration of acceptance. Should we have had a vote on that item? I don't think I I don't think there's any doubt what the result will be, but I guess we should have. Can we do that at this point? We can. We will. Okay. Um, let's go back to item A. Do I have a motion that we accept the donation from Davidson County EMS grant? So moved. Is there a second? Second. Now, any discussion? And thank you again for providing this. I think most of them's gone, but but Sam's still here. Uh now, any discussion or anything? Okay. You may record your vote and it's 6. So that has been

approved. Now we'll go down to item C, consideration of proposed pay and classification study. Mr. City Manager, thank you. Um, as the council is aware, we have done a salary and classification uh study, the first uh cohort of a threepart uh process to review the salaries of all of city employees. Uh this particular cohort included the police department, the planning and community development department which includes inspections and engineering uh along with that uh with the comm planning and uh community development. Uh also included is the finance department which also includes the billing and collections and the meter services department within that purview. Um staff is recommending that you adopt the uh Pedmont Regional Council's uh proposal for the uh the rate study which includes the adoption of the appendix A which is the uh document within the personnel policy that sets the grades for all positions in the city. uh any grade changes that take place would be uh at a 2.5% change per grade. What this means is if a if a position is grade 21 and it goes to a grade 23 then the incumbent would receive a 5% increase because of the two grade change. Um the also that you would adopt the recommendation who's any current in incumbent employee who after the grade change is making less than the grade would be moved to the minimum of the grade. So in some cases there would be individuals that would receive more than the two and a half per grade change depending on on how they would fall out in that process and they

would all be moved to the minimum of that grade. And then uh fourth the adopt the recommended additional annual salary adjustment of $10 per month for each month of service an employee has worked within their current position and assigned grade. Uh what this is an attempt to do is to address compression within the uh the employee base so that an employee that has served for many years within uh a grade would receive additional funds than someone who just got a promotion into that grade. Um just to try to to separate them um as appropriate in their in their responsible duties and in recognition of their service to the city. Um so that is our recommendations to you and we seek approval of the salary study implementation effective se u May 25th May 25th. Okay. What's the pleasure of councel? Mr. Mayor, I move that we uh approve the proposed pay and classification study as described by the manager effective May the 25th of this year. Is there a second? Second. Okay. Any any discussion? Okay. You may record your vote and we have 6 in the affirmative. So that item has been approved. We're now down to item D, consideration of approval of permitting specialist one position. Mr. City Manager. All right. We're basically switching out a position that had already been approved by the city council for an engineering tech position that was approved for this current fiscal year, but was never filled. um

after review with the community development department and the engineering division uh it was determined that in order to serve the community best would be to get another permitting specialist operational in that department. As you know there's a lot of development going on right now and we are implementing new software uh to help streamline it but it is also a significant change in the number of permits uh coming through. So, what we're asking you to do is approve this position of a permit specialist uh now and we would fill it as soon as possible and then the engineering tech position that we already had open that had already been approved would get delayed and not uh implemented until the end of this uh uh until sorry January 1st of 2026 with the other positions. Uh I know that this this coming right on the heels of what we already presented as part of the budget is kind of an odd situation but but we feel it is much more important to have this position filled as soon as possible instead of waiting another six eight months to fill it. So we I do ask that you approve this this position. This is a new position within the organization. So you've the u you have to approve the the the grade you have to approve the uh the position um so it can exist within our uh personnel policy. Okay. What's the pleasure of councel? Mr. Mayor, I'll make a motion that we uh move to approve the pering specialist one position as requested by Is there a second? Second. Okay, we have a motion to second. Any discussion? Okay, you may register your vote. And we have 6. So that has been approved. We're now down to item Z. Item

E, consideration of acceptance of property donation tax parcel ID 1606-9000000 E 0001 located at the corner of National Highway and Council Street. I'm going to recognize uh Council Member Joz Johnson, our uh real estate chairman. Thank you so much, Mr. Mayor. Uh I'm going to make a motion that we uh table the consideration of the acceptance of the property donation uh and move it to our committee meetings for further discussion. Okay, we have a motion. Is there a second? Second. Okay, we have a motion to second. Any discussion? Okay, you may record your vote. And the vote is 6. So that item has been tabled uh to our next meeting. and it will be uh referred back to uh committee for additional study. Thank you very much. Item F is consideration of resolution to direct the city clerk to investigate the sufficiency of a petition for annexation of 129 Kennedy Road. Uh this is uh has been a request from property owner at that location and uh by proving this the uh the city clerk will take on the task of uh uh investigating the sufficiency of this uh petition and she will bring it back to the council uh when she has finished her work on that. So what's the pleasure of council? Mr. Mr. Mayor, I make a motion uh that we direct our city clerk to investigate the sufficiency of the petition of annexation of 129 Ky Road. Is there a second? Second. Okay, we have a motion second. Any discussion?

Okay, you may record your vote. So, that has been approved unanimously. We're now down to our committee reports and and appointments. and I'll start this evening with Mayor Pro Tim Doug Hunt. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Um been an event for a month. A lot of stuff going on around the city. Um especially this morning when we went to the legislative meeting. Um found out a little bit more about the the new program that the the planning and planning and zoning thing. So, it was interesting to know where they were coming from on that. So, uh but um I have I have given the the clerk a copy of my activities and I'll let that stand as my report. Thank you very much, Council Member Scott Styers. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Councilman Hunt. Open that door, but I'm not going to walk through it. The clerk has a copy of my activities, and I'm going to for once keep my mouth shut, and and that'll stand as my report. Well, you asked that question. I didn't get an answer. Council member Hunter Thrift. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I do want to highlight some of the Memorial Day activities that are going on this week. Councilman Grimes covered several of them, but uh I'm I'm going to read these off to you. We do have our Vietnam wall ceremony that takes place Saturday at 10:00 a.m. We will then have our gathering of warriors which will be hosted at uh First Baptist Church here in town. That will be Saturday, May 24th at 5:00 p.m. And then Sunday, we have our 208th Army Band concert. U you don't need a ticket for that. It is is free. Um it it's kind of like our hidden gem. Folks love it when they go to it. So, please if if if you're available, try to attend that for us. Uh and then Monday morning, we'll have our parade and then finish up with our ceremonies down at Kushwa Stadium and then the uh special special forces paratroopers will come in with the big American flag, weather permitting. Uh

and that that's always something to see as well. And and we could not do this uh all these events without the participation of the city uh parks and recreation and the golf course for the golf golf carts. uh fire department for the the radios that we use. Uh and just there's so many ways that the city partners with our committee uh to make this event happen and we really appreciate that. Um I do want to mention one thing that I I did this past month uh that I really enjoyed. I was invited by the uh 3057 uh boy scout troop uh that meet at Grace Lutheran Church to talk about municipal elections. Uh, and I was answering questions and talking to kids from kindergarten to fifth grade. Uh, and they had some really good questions. I spent about an hour and a half uh, talking with them about how municipal elections work and hopefully they're going to come uh, visit one of our council meetings here in the next few months. So, I'm excited for for them to come and uh, share that with us. But, uh, I did submit a copy of my activities to the clerk and I will let that stand as my report. Thank you very much, Council Member Neil Grimes. I kind of pontificated uh with the presentation of the uh uh proclamation and that with the promise that I will forward a copy of my report. I'll let that stand. Thank you. Thank you very much, Council Member Pton Williams. I will claim Neil's pontificating time as my own so I get double. Thank you, Neil. Um no, uh I did not send Winnie a copy of my activities yet, but I will. I promise. Um, Michael presented the budget, if you can believe it. The 11-page document had even more information than what he shared. So, it takes a lot to run a city, and it's one of the uh appreciations I've uh learned to have being up here on council. Um, $58 million is a lot of money, and somebody has to account for every single

dollar. And that's our finance department. They do a fantastic job. Um, it's easy and like on the bus days very fun to sit up here and be like, "It'd be really nice if we hired 12 other people or it'd be great if we had a dog park or whatever." But then there's a whole army of people who work for the city who make all of that happen. Uh, when we started talking about adding the positions, I was watching Thomas's face and we said that and he just got this like thousand-y stare in his eyes cuz he was like, I'm going to have to figure that out. And he did. and they do. So, um I'm very grateful for all the people who work for the city. Uh it's really cool to see this budget because I think it reflects um the financial position that we enjoy. Um it more closely, it probably never will, but it more closely reflects the value that we place on our employees um and the hard work that they do. So, I'm very excited about it. If you want to read the 11 pages, they're worth it um that Michael wrote. And then the whole budget you probably don't want to look at, but you can if you want to. Um, we also celebrated teacher appreciation week in May, and I know we have two fine educators up here. So, thank you guys for what you do. And I think I will let that stand as my report. All right. Thank you very much, Council Member Jock Johnson. Thank you so much, uh, Mayor York. Uh, and I definitely wanted to take a moment again to recognize our uh, public works department uh, who definitely does a lot of work in our city and oftentimes are a little bit uh, left behind the scenes. Um, and to Mr. Daryl Pool and the entire public works department, thank you truly for your work. Um, this year it hits a little different. Uh, we lost a longtime member of that family, Mr. Frank Haristen, uh, who served Thomasville for 22 years. Frank wasn't just a hard worker. He was the kind of man who could make you laugh even on your worst days. Uh he had a presence about him that made the job feel lighter and life feel fuller. Um his passing has left a hole not just in that department but in this entire

community. And I want to take a moment to his family and to the public works team to know that we see you. We appreciate you and you are in our prayers. We also celebrated National Police Week last week and had the honor of participating in events that pay tribute to the men and women who put on uh that uniform and serve our community faithfully every day. Um had opportunity to run alongside some of our officers and our sheriff members. Uh and that was a great opportunity to really raise money for our special Olympics to ensure that uh they can continue to participate in that event free of charge. Um, and as we approach Memorial Day, a time of reflection and remembrance, may we also take a moment to honor all of the men and women who serve in uniform. And I will let that I have submitted a copy of my uh activities as it was a very, very busy month, but um I'll let that stand as my report. Thank you. Thank you very much. I've had a fairly busy month. I'm going to list some of the things that I've done, not uh elaborate on any of them too much maybe. Uh we had another class of one Thomasville. Uh that's an orientation class for our new employees. I city manager may say something about that in his report. So I'm not going to say too much, but I was able to come and and meet with them and have some time with them. So I enjoyed that. uh partic participated in the national day of prayer at the clock tower up town. Uh we had a fairly good crowd there. This I think this is the first year that we've done it since I don't know two or three years ago maybe since co so that has been started back now and it was a good time uh up there that we had u attended the CIS volunteer lunchon at the woman's club. Uh, of course, Hunter directs the CIS group and they have a great group of

volunteers and they do a lot of good work with our students in our local school system and uh so we're we're thankful for that. Uh also attended the painted painted pianas event uh on East Main Street. Uh this is this is an event where artists from town and around the area come and paint a piano certain theme for that piano and then citizens will come and enjoy the evening with uh food trucks and other other activities. And for those that can play the piano, they're welcome to sit down and play and they do. So that was a good event on that day. Uh I participated in employee appreciation day here in this building. It's a time when our employees can come. We serve them a lunchon and uh and then they're uh they they can see some of the uh services uh that are available for them as an employee of the city. And so uh so that was a good day. Had a lot of turnout for that. Uh I was at the uh junior OTC RO yeah junior OTC banquet last uh Thursday evening and uh Councilman Johnson was was there as well and I was able to present Colonel Merkel. He's led that group for the past I think it's 16 years. He is he is a fine man. He's done a lot with our youth here in town through that program. And I presented him with one of the challenge coins of the city of Thomasville. And uh he was he didn't know what to say. I don't think he he's all he's always built up those around him. He's always recognized them and he hadn't received a lot of recognition in return through the years. Uh so I was able to do that and I

was glad of that. Uh I also attended the police uh week memorial service uh the same day as the junior OTC event and just this afternoon we had a ribbon cutting at the new fitness court at Central Recre. So you'll be uh seeing that and more work is going to be done at Central Recreation in the weeks and months ahead. And we'll we'll we're developing a recreation campus there on Main Street. Uh, so more things to come as time moves on. And that concludes my report. So I'll go now to our city manager, Mr. Brandt. Ditto. Ditto. Ditto. Uh, one item that did not get mentioned that I do want to uh mention to the community is our pool facility opens this weekend. Uh, Saturday is opening day. uh they will be open the next two weekends only and then uh the weekend of June 6th 7th uh they will be open uh for the rest of the summer except for a few days that they'll be closed um third the third Monday of every month I believe that they're they plan on being closed which just so happens to be city council meeting. I wonder how that happened. Um that's that's what you get when you build your council chambers inside a pool. Um the uh I I am very excited about this facility. Obviously this is our third year uh opening and we really look forward to a good year uh safe year for the for the kids. Um we are going to be able to provide free swim lessons. Uh so we are looking forward to that to to help the community. It's a a critical need that everyone should know how to at least dog paddle to get out of trouble, whatever that trouble may be, whether it's here at a pool or at their own uh

pool at their own home or if they are at the beach or at the lake. So, I I encourage you to enroll kids into into swim lessons. Um, so much was covered uh by other uh council members that I I will uh let that stand. I know that um Mr. Bowling has a few comments that he would like to make. Thank you very much. Our city attorney, Miss Whitman. Good evening. Um, lots has been shared. I I just wanted to just bring you up to speed that we've been working diligently on acquiring all the necessary easements that we need um to finish up any of the range road sewer and all that pump station work and everything that's going on there. So that is from a legal standpoint is coming along well. I've also been working with Chief Carter on coming up with um new potential ordinance regarding towing from private lots that we hope to present to you at committees. We're not sure if we're going to have it ready at committees. It may be the following month, but we are working diligently on that. And that's all I've got for an update this evening. Okay. Thank you very much. Our deputy city manager, Mr. Bowling. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I have three updates I'd like to share. Um, first and foremost, we've had a long, arduous process over the last couple months to determine who the next IT director, uh, would be, and I'm happy to announce that Michael made the offer last week to our interim director, uh, Damon Hartwell, and he accepted a position. So, we're excited, um, that our internal candidate stood the test of time and rose to the top over all the candidates that um, and I will say that we had a number of candidates from, you know, across the country. And so it was a very tough process to get through and we're excited to work with him to kind of continue building that department in the direction we'd like to see it go. Also mentioned had the opportunity to represent Thomasville at the Cities Today Institute in New Orleans last week on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. It was a special invitation Thomasville got

to sit at the table with 20 cities from across North America and talk about digital transformation. It was even more exciting to be able to sit at the table um and talk about the progress that Thomas was making and look at some of the much larger cities across the country and see that we stacked up better in some cases than they did and able to bring a lot of information back about digital transformation and also innovation how it relates to our community. So, it was really exciting opportunity and I'm thankful for that opportunity to be able to represent our our community. Um last thing I'll mention, special thank you to the Memorial Day parade committee. I want to end it on a positive note. very thankful for all that they do. I know that there's hours upon hours that go in and a number of volunteers to make this weekend's event successful and so we're thankful for that and thankful to have that in our community where most communities do not. So that's my report. Thank you. All right. Thank you very much. We're now down to additions and updates. Does any anyone have any additions or updates? Close session. Oh, sorry. I didn't look what I had pinned in. We're now down to item eight, close session. We need a motion going to close session. So move. Is there a second? Any discussion? Only to point out that that is for personnel, Mr. Mayor. Yeah, for personnel. Okay, you may record your vote. All right, we have 6. So we'll we're now in close session.